Average after expenses

[parfleche]

In reality ,and I know there are a lot of factors involved BUT What would your income be after one average winter on a registered trap line ? Take your pick as to the area north to south etc . Be honest LOL

[mark-edmonton]

I honestly don't keep track. I expense my fuel and my sled, and hope I catch enough to cover my fuel! But I do it for winter enjoyment and the challenge of learning to outsmart some animals

[parfleche]

IF That list of caught fur under your name is this season did you get about $800.00 for all ?

[mark-edmonton]

Originally Posted by parfleche

IF That list of caught fur under your name is this season did you get about $800.00 for all ?

It's all still in my garage! 4 wolves will be getting tanned. Maybe a few others for craft work! Like I said I don't really do it for the money! Gonna give my sr partner a wolf for his garage.

[bill9044]

Originally Posted by parfleche

In reality ,and I know there are a lot of factors involved BUT What would your income be after one average winter on a registered trap line ? Take your pick as to the area north to south etc . Be honest LOL

As the market is right now you can do just as well catching yotes on private land than running a line trying to hammer marten. You can have a marten line on private land if in the right zone. But yotes are where the money is and no quota.

[parfleche]

Yes I agree Bill , I can understand the urge to own a Registered line But for the life of me I don,t know how a person could ever pay the darn thing off! I know most fellows do it for having their own little slice of silence etc. I only trap resident myself and after 37.5 years of 24 hr call I finally got laid off and have time to trap as I always wanted . I am fortunate to have some very generous landowners many who have never known me allow me and trust me to have access to their property , It is absolutely gratifying to know that certain people are like that!

[bill9044]

Originally Posted by parfleche

Yes I agree Bill , I can understand the urge to own a Registered line But for the life of me I don,t know how a person could ever pay the darn thing off! I know most fellows do it for having their own little slice of silence etc. I only trap resident myself and after 37.5 years of 24 hr call I finally got laid off and have time to trap as I always wanted . I am fortunate to have some very generous landowners many who have never known me allow me and trust me to have access to their property , It is absolutely gratifying to know that certain people are like that!

I would love to have a line myself. But where I live and the line prices within 2 hours of me are a bit more than I can afford at the moment. If I was in a more remote area of AB I would pick one up. And with fur like most other commodities on a downward trend some lines wouldn't be profitable until a guy transfered it later on. But this is just my opinion.

[Torkdiesel]

I don't look at the cost of the line when factoring in my yearly profits. To me the initial cost of the line is more of a long term investment. Line values are climbing, they have been for the last 40-50 years. Just like land or houses, the value will continue to rise.
If I can break even or turn a slight profit on my line every year I'm pretty happy. I am always looking for ways to increase my gross annual income however

[nube]

After fuel and taxes and new equipment a guy shouldn't trap for the money. I have made decent change with coyotes but like I said that tax man kills you. I think I need to get my accountant to look into things for me better and give me some ideas. After this year I think I will be getting close to buying a lot of the gear I need. It gets a bit pricey starting out

[357xp]

Originally Posted by nube

After fuel and taxes and new equipment a guy shouldn't trap for the money. I have made decent change with coyotes but like I said that tax man kills you. I think I need to get my accountant to look into things for me better and give me some ideas. After this year I think I will be getting close to buying a lot of the gear I need. It gets a bit pricey starting out

If you are claiming all your trapping expenses the tax man should be helping you out instead of killing you....if your expenses are higher than fur income. There's a lot of things u can claim. After all, it's a business....

[dugh]

We junior 350 kms northwest of Edmonton. The amount of off road traffic has increased dramatically so there is not as much peace and quiet as there once was. I think because of that the price of some lines are just too high. We don't keep a close eye on expenses but we always recognize the beautiful Alberta winter days and agree that we are blessed to be able to enjoy them and the great outdoors.

39 coyote
14 marten
3 lynx
1 wolf
Haven't counted squirrel, weasel, rats or beaver and still working on our first otter.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Mark Boyce, Alberta biologist wrote a good article on trapping income in AO a few months back. His Nordegg line is only about 1 township and he looked at fur prices over 10 years for coyotes. he posted a number of $3500 for his line which includes probably 6 different fur bearers. However he would not hit marten hard and would pull traps after 15 to preserve breeding stock. The biggest problem is we are getting the same general dollar price for our pelts we got 50 years ago. The number we receive for our pelts needs to be moved one decimal over to allow for inflation, fuel and snowmobile prices.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by 357xp

If you are claiming all your trapping expenses the tax man should be helping you out instead of killing you....if your expenses are higher than fur income. There's a lot of things u can claim. After all, it's a business....

Unfortunately businesses can't continue losing money year arfter year otherwise CRA will deem that there is no expectation of profit and therefore ...it ain't a business.

[Marty S]

I never kept track, figured it will all come out in the wash.

[mark-edmonton]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

Unfortunately businesses can't continue losing money year arfter year otherwise CRA will deem that there is no expectation of profit and therefore ...it ain't a business.

But as soon as you make a buck or 2 they want their piece! No guarantees with trapping ever, so where is the line?

[Big Grey Wolf]

CRA will ask you what you are doing to get the line to profitable status. Just tell them you are buying more traps and next year you will go like hell. Lastly ask them Ottawa to take off the sanctions on Russia then the ruble will go up and we might make a return on our investment.